Taste of the Land

Before Johannesburg was a city, it was a farm. Siwe Ntombela, a plant-based baker and urban researcher, and her partner Forest Ramushwana, an urban grower, have rooted their lives in indigenous African culinary traditions and ecological knowledge. Through conscious living practices that shape how they plant, harvest and cook, the film intimately explores how food serves as memory and medicine, connected to cultural identity, childhood, and ancestral knowledge. Grounded in the indigenous principles of custodianship and food sovereignty, they navigate questions of belonging, sustainability, and care, in an era marred by extraction, overconsumption and waste. Moving through kitchens, gardens, and Zimtoti Bakery, an Afrocentric plant-based community hub, the film intimately explores their lives in sync with nature and its cycles. Taste of the Land reflects on how indigenous culinary knowledge shapes urban life, reconnecting people to their land, culture, and community, while imagining grounded and sustainable futures, where nourishment becomes an intentional act of healing and preservation.